Cap for drawer and like corners



- July 12, 1966 M. v. GOODE GAP FOR DRAWER AND LIKE CORNERS Filed Aug. 28, 1964 Fig. 5

/NVN7'0R MAURICE M @0005 B9 @Ww ATTORNEVS Fig. 4

United States Patent 3,260,491 CAP FOR DRAWER AND LIKE CORNERS Maurice V. Goods, 625 Trving, Apt. 6, Des Moines, Iowa Filed Aug. 28, 1964, Ser. No. 394,647 4 Claims. (Cl. 248345.1)

This invention relates to an attachable resilient corner cap means for drawers, doors and like.

Modern furniture and equipment are quite often formed by bending metal sheets into the required unit that comprises the furniture or equipment. This is particularly true of oflice furniture and equipment, wherein most file cabinets, desks and like are metal fabrications. The front of the drawers or doors of such cabinets and desks require that they be of desired wall thickness, and to accomplish this, the outer metal sheet of the drawer or door has its top, bottom and side edges bent perpendicularly forward to engage the inner sheet of the front of the drawer or door. This inner sheet that forms the inner side of the drawer or door, is spaced a substantial distance from the outer front sheet and this means that at each corner where the bend in edge flanges of the outer sheet metal, there is a sharp metal open seam slit. The edges of the slit seldom flush with each other, and usually the metal edges are rough and/ or sharp. Inasmuch as these drawer and door corners are constantly being contacted by office workers, it is most common to snag clothing such as sweaters, hose and like. Also quite frequently the fingers or hands are cut on these sharp corners. Still another objection to this type of furniture is noise. If an office has a great number of filing cabinets in operation, the constant closing of the drawers or trays is most annoying to all present. Additionally, the drawers quite frequently do not close properly to provide a flush engagement between the drawer door with the remainder of the cabinet. Therefore, one of the principal objects of my invention is to provide an attachable protective cap means for the corners of drawers, doors and like.

A further object of this invention is to provide a drawer, door, or like corner cap shield that is flexible and resilient.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a corner cap for doors, drawers and like that is easily and quickly installed.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a drawer, door or like corner cap shield that will successfully fit the fronts of drawers or doors having varying thicknesses.

A further object of this invention is to provide a corner cap for a drawer door which guides the drawer door into flush engagement with the remainder of the cabinet.

A further object of this invention is to provide a corner cap for a drawer door which is so structurally designed so as to deaden objectionable noises when the drawer door is closed.

Still further objects of my invention are to provide an attachable cap shield for items having corners that is economical in manufacture, durable in use, and refined in appearance.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangements, and combination, of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, specifically pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of my corner shield mounted on the top corners of the drawers of a filing cabinet;

yieldably maintain the cap on the drawer door.

3,260,491 Patented July 12, 1g66 FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of my device installed in a corner of a member;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the device taken on line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged inside view of the device and more fully illustrates its construction; and- FIG. 5 is an enlarged side View of the device.

In the drawings, I have used the numeral 10 to generally designate the corner of a drawer, door or like. The numeral 11 designates the top thickness of the front 10 and the numeral 12 designates the side thickness of the front 10. These two edges 11 and 12 extend at right angles to each other, and the line where they meet is the corner of the drawer, door or like. Obviously the front of a door, drawer or like will have four of these corners, and one of my cap means may be used on each of the four corners.

The front plan construction of my cap means is in the form of a triangular shaped sheet generally designated by the numeral 13. This triangular portion has three substantially straight side edges 15, 16 and 17, as shown in FIG. 2.

Integrally formed on the edge 16, and extending forwardly and inwardly is a flange 19. Integrally formed in the edge 17 and extending forwardly and inwardly is a flange 20. These two flange portions 19 and 20 are integrally formed together at their adjacent edges as shown in FIG. 4. By this construction, the outer ends of the two flanges 19 and 20 will be offset inwardly relative to the two edges 16 and 17, respectively, thereby with the triangle 13 providing a semi-pocket area for receiving a corner of a drawer, door or like. In other words, the angle between flange 19 and triangular shaped sheet 13 will be an acute angle as will be the angle between flange 2i) and sheet 13. The semi-pocket obviously serves to Furthermore, by the flange portions extending forwardly and inwardly, they will aid in guiding the drawer, door or like into the frame area of the furniture when the drawer or door is moved to a closed position due to the leading edges thereof engaging the cabinet. Also, the flexible resilient character of the cap and the structural configuration thereof as explained above will deaden objectionable noises when the drawer, door or like is rapidly closed due to flanges 19 and 20 engaging the cabinet. To aid in this desirable deadening effect, I recommend that the entire cap means be of a flexible resilient material such as semiresilient plastic rubber or like.

The widths of the flanges 19 and 20 must be such that their forward edges extend beyond the thickness of the front of the drawer, door, or like.

Any suitable means may be used to secure my cap means to the corners of a drawer, door, or like. I recommend an adhesive for securing the item. This adhesive 25 is on the underside of the flanges 19 and 20, and forward inner side of the portion 13. It may be of the neverhardening type.

To install my cap means it is merely necessary to fasten the portion 13 over the face of the corner of the drawer, door or like, fasten the flap flange portion 19 over the top edge 11, and fasten the flap flange portion 20 over the side edge 12. As stated before. the semi-Docket therein formed helps to maintain the device in the drawer door.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of my cap for drawer and like corners without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. A corner cap for drawer doors having parallel, vertically disposed inner and outer surfaces and horizontal and vertical edge portions extending therebetween, the juncture of which forms right angular corners, said corner cap comprising,

a vertically disposed, triangular shaped sheet member having inner and outer faces and at least a horizontal and a vertical edge portion, said sheet member adapted to engage the outer surface of the drawer door adjacent one of its corners, said sheet member having a first flange integral therewith extending from its horizontal edge portion and adapted to embrace the horizontal edge portion of the drawer door adjacent said one corner,

said sheet member having a second flange integral therewith and integral with said first flange extending from its vertical edge portion adapted to embrace the vertical edge portion of the drawer door adjacent said one corner,

said first and second flanges extending at an acute angle from said sheet member with respect to its inner face to provide a guide surface and a noise retarding means when the drawer door is moved into engagement with a receptacle.

2. A corner cap for drawer doors having parallel, vertically disposed inner and outer surfaces and horizontal and vertical edge portions extending therebetween, the juncture of which forms right angular corners, said corner cap comprising,

a vertically disposed, triangular shaped sheet member having inner and outer faces and at least a horizontal and a vertical edge portion, said sheet member adapted to engage the outer surface of the drawer door adjacent one of its corners, said sheet member having a first flange integral therewith extending from its horizontal edge portion and adapted to embrace the horizontal edge portion of the drawer door adjacent said one corner,

said sheet member having a second flange integral therewith and integral with said first flange extending from its vertical edge portion adapted to embrace the vertical edge portion of the drawer door adjacent said one corner,

said first and second flanges each having their free ends extending past the inner surface of the drawer door \and each extending at an acute angle from said sheet member with respect to its inner face to provide a guide surface and a noise retarding means when the drawer is moved into engagement with a receptacle,

3. A corner cap for drawer doors having parallel, vertically disposed inner and outer surfaces and horizontal and vertical edge portions extending therebetween, the juncture of which forms right angular corners, said corner cap comprising,

a vertically disposed, triangular shaped sheet member having inner and outer faces and at least a horizontal and a vertical edge portion, said sheet member adapted to engage the outer surface of the drawer door adjacent one of its corners, said sheet member having a first flange integral therewith extending from its horizontal edge portion and adapted to embrace the horizontal edge portion of the drawer door adjacent said one corner,

said sheet member having a second flange integral therewith and integral with said first flange extending from its vertical edge portion adapted to embrace the vertical edge portion of the drawer door adjacent said one corner,

said first and second flanges each having their free ends extending past the inner surface of the drawer door and each extending at an acute angle from said sheet member with respect to its inner face to providea guide surface and a noise retarding means when the drawer is moved into engagement with a receptacle,

and means on said inner face of said sheet member to maintain said sheet member on the drawer door.

4. A corner cap for drawer doors having parallel, vertically disposed inner and outer surfaces and horizontal and vertical edge portions extending therebetween, the juncture of which forms right angular corners, said corner cap comprising,

a vertically disposed, triangular shaped sheet member having inner and outer faces and at least a horizontal and a vertical edge portion, said sheet member adapted to engage the outer surface of the drawer door adjacent one of its corners, said sheet member having a first flange integral therewith extending from its horizontal edge portion and adapted to embrace the horizontal edge portion of the drawer door adjacent said one corner,

said sheet member having a second flange integral therewith and integral with said first flange extending from its vertical edge portion adapted to embrace the vertical edge portion of the drawer door adjacent said one corner,

said first and second flanges each having their free ends extending past the inner surface of the drawer door and each extending at an acute engle from said sheet member with respect to its inner face to provide a pocket area therebetween for receiving said one corner to yieldably maintain the corner cap thereon.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

I. F. FOSS, Assistant Examiner, 

1. A CORNER CAP FOR DRAWER DOORS HAVING PARALLEL, VERTICALLY DISPOSED INNER AND OUTER SURFACES AND HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL EDGE PORTIONS EXTENDING THEREBETWEEN, THE JUNCTURE OF WHICH FORMS RIGHT ANGULAR CORNERS, SAID CORNER CAP COMPRISING, A VERTICALLY DISPOSED, TRIANGULAR SHAPED SHEET MEMBER HAVING INNER AND OUTER FACES AND AT LEAST A HORIZONTAL AND A VERTICAL EDGE PORTION, SAID SHEET MEMBER ADAPTED TO ENGAGE THE OUTER SURFACE OF THE DRAWER DOOR ADJACENT ONE OF ITS CORNERS, SAID SHEET MEMBER HAVING A FIRST FLANGE INTEGRAL THEREWITH EXTENDING FROM ITS HORIZONTAL EDGE PORTION AND ADAPTED TO EMBRACE THE HORIZONTAL EDGE PORTION OF THE DRAWER DOOR ADJACENT SAID ONE CORNER, SAID SHEET MEMBER HAVING A SECOND FLANGE INTEGRAL THEREWITH AND INTEGRAL WITH SAID FIRST FLANGE EXTENDING FROM ITS VERTICAL EDGE PORTION ADAPTED TO EMBRACE THE VERTICAL EDGE PORTION OF THE DRAWER DOOR ADJACENT SAID ONE CORNER, SAID FIRST AND SECOND FLANGES EXTENDING AT AN ACUTE ANGLE FROM SAID SHEET MEMBER WITH RESPECT TO ITS INNER FACE TO PROVIDE A GUIDE SURFACE AND S NOISE RETARDING MEANS WHEN THE DRAWER DOOR IS MOVED INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH A RECEPTACLE. 